Yeah, twelve sounds about right for Canada, too. Well, as far as I know. Our legal drinking age is 19.

I personally just want marijuana to be legalized so that I don't have to see people bragging about smoking weed on the internet. Especially people I know bragging about it on Facebook. Other than that, it's a political issue that I would vote neither for nor against if I was given the choice. It just makes no difference to me.

Robot Monkey wrote:Good point. If they were to legalize marijuana, they should allow the killing of any pot-influenced people, so long as it's in self defense. Honestly, I don't want to get mugged by some stoners. and be unable to do anything. I'd rather shoot them, as apposed to try to find them and go through the necessary legal processes, which they could still get off scott-free.

I'm not scared of them in that sense, I'm more scared of talking and socializing with them. Besides, if anyone stoned off of Marijuana tried to mug me, I'd outrun them using parkour. It'd be much harder to scale things/run off of walls when you're stoned.

19 is the legal drinking age for Canada, and the 14 year old thing was a joke. I think that 19 is a sensible age, because fewer 19 year olds go to high school than 18 year olds. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought 21 was the legal drinking age because it's when your brain is fully developed.

The Black Rabbit wrote:My friend makes homemade moonshine and wine out of grape juice , baking yeast, and corn syrup. I live in a redneck town where most don't care about drinking restrictions. Lucky beer helps me steer.

Robot Monkey wrote:Good point. If they were to legalize marijuana, they should allow the killing of any pot-influenced people, so long as it's in self defense. Honestly, I don't want to get mugged by some stoners. and be unable to do anything. I'd rather shoot them, as apposed to try to find them and go through the necessary legal processes, which they could still get off scott-free.

The key to scaring off stoners is to make yourself look as large as possible.Then they will say, "Dude, your HUGE! Don't hurt us!!!" and try to stumble away.

Silverdream wrote:[quote="Robot Monkey" Besides, if anyone stoned off of Marijuana tried to mug me, I'd outrun them using parkour. It'd be much harder to scale things/run off of walls when you're stoned.

Parkour is also part of my survival plan for the zombie apocalypse.

With regards to the drinking age, I think that it should be 18 because if you are old enough to join the military, own a gun, drive a car, buy cigarettes etc. then you should be old enough to drink. With pretty much everything else you are considered an adult at 18, capable of making your own decisions. Why should alcohol be any different? I don't think that there is a specific age that people will necessarily be able to drink responsibly, as it varies from person to person. Some can drink responsibly at 16 while others still can't do so at 40. As long as people are held accountable for their actions then they should be given more freedom to make their own choices. For instance, they should be allowed to drink, but the penalties for DUIs should be much harsher, because voluntarily endangering your own life and health is something entirely different from potentially endangering someone else's.

I guess we're all glad the Internet wasn't invented along with tobacco and alcohol, then. There's an argument to be made that the longer something like this is around the more opportunities there are for people to control it.

Ben-Jammin wrote:We had a discussion about that too in my politics class this last year. Most people don't understand why you can vote, buy a gun (rifles), drive a car, OWN a car, smoke/buy tobacco products, and go die for your country at 18 and still not drink alcohol except for some religious purposes.

I think they're doing this in the right order. It's definitely better to learn how to handle all that stuff before you start drinking, rather than after. For cautionary example, see Alabama.

Natalya wrote:What's that? I can't hear you over the sound of how banned you are.

Robot Monkey wrote:If they were to legalize marijuana, they should allow the killing of any pot-influenced people, so long as it's in self defense. Honestly, I don't want to get mugged by some stoners. and be unable to do anything.

You already can. In fact, I'm pretty sure you can kill anyone legally as long as it's in self-defense - regardless of stoniness.

And seriously, you honestly think someone that's stoned is going to get up off of their ass to go mug you? Or rather, do you think that the weed is what drove them to it, and they weren't already the mugging type of person already? In your own words:

Robot Monkey wrote:the people all looked like they could hardly move, let alone think. I don't see why people would want to do something that incapacitated them like that.

Does that sound like a violent criminal to you? The fact of the matter is that stoners WILL smoke weed regardless of the legality, and they're out there right now. Waiting to mug you with their bongs.

Ben-Jammin wrote:I think you should be allowed to drink at 18, even though I don't do so myself.

Why not? If you feel like you should be allowed to, then have a beer or two when you get the chance. Try it out, and see if your opinion holds water. The point I'm trying to make is that legality isn't the issue with drugs or alcohol - personal responsibility is. Pot doesn't magically turn people into homicidal maniacs, and is actually a lot more boring than people who brag about smoking make it sound like. There's no magical switch in your brain that flips on your 21st birthday (or 18th for that matter). While weed and several other drugs should be legal for a stupefyingly long list of reasons, AND while most of the argument against stems from either complete ignorance of the drugs in question or religion butting it's way into state politics, I strongly recommend at least educating yourself instead of being afraid of drugs and their users.